Home Farm
Home Farm is the biggest property in Emmerdale Village. Whoever lives at Home Farm is the richest person or family in the village. The current owner is Lawrence White. The house's structure dates from the 1600s. It was first seen in the series in January 1973 as Miffield Hall and was owned by the then squire George Verney whose family had been the aristocrats in Beckindale since 1588. Upon his marriage break up George went to live in exile in Cannes and the property was used as a teacher training college. George Verney died in September 1978. His nephew inherited the place but he sold it to national landowning company NY Estates and the building and its land was renamed Home Farm. Trevor Thatcher and his wife moved into the property when he became estate manager. In 1979 he was taken over by Maurice Westrop. Maurice left in 1980 and Richard Anstey took over. Again he was another short lived manager, having been sacked in 1981. In March 1982 a new manager was appointed - Alan Turner, who was from the South on England. Since 1988 when NY Estates pulled out Home Farm has had many owners, often with dysfunctional lives such as Zoe Tate, Chris Tate, Tom King, Mark Wylde and Declan Macey. Lawrence White owns the estate now. Biography Backstory Miffield Hall was built in the mid 1600s when the Verney family were the lords of the manor. It was extensively rebuilt in the 1800s which makes up much of the present structure. George Barton Verney was born at the aristocratic home in 1910 and was the last paternalistic lord of the manor. George's brother died in the war, when his son Gerald Verney was a baby, and George's sister Marjorie Verney married Ronald Proctor and bore a son Mark Proctor. In 1966 George wed much young woman Laura and she moved into the home with him. They never had any children. For many years, Sam Pearson worked on the estate as did Seth Armstrong. 1972-1978 In 1973 George and Laura Verney were residing at Home Farm, then still known as Miffield Hall. Jack Sugden had an affair with Laura as she found her marriage to George boring. Jack also tried to blacken George's name in which he got a horsewhipping by Verney for his troubles. George and Laura's marriage dissolved and in 1975 George went to live in exile in Cannes, France. That year Henry Wilks showed an interest in buying the Hall off of George Verney but pulled out. A few years later in September 1978 George Verney died and Miffield Hall was passed down to his nephew Gerald Verney. 1978-1981 In 1978 Gerald Verney was out of pocket by crippling death duties inherited from his uncle George. He was forced to sell up. In October 1978 a conglomerate called NY Estates (North Yorkshire Estates) bought Miffield Hall and renamed it Home Farm. This meant big changes for Beckindale. Ruthless boss Trevor Thatcher wa s appointed the manager of Home Farm and stayed with his wife Paula Thatcher in a caravan while the house was being renovated. One of his schemes was attempting to evict 70 year old Nellie Ratcliffe from her home she had rented for the past 50 years. He was unsuccessful though. He was soon dismissed for causing the death of several fish in the fish farm on the estate. In January 1979 Maurice Westrop took over as the new Home Farm manager. He was replaced by Richard Anstey in May 1980 after Westrop was posted to an NY Estates holding in Wales. Richard was a businessman by all means but was not a bad person however he did plan a tree felling scheme. Anstey then offered Joe Sugden the post of Farm Manager in October 1980. Richard created a new area of conifer tree forest on the Home Farm Estate. In 1981 the NY Estates boss Christopher Meadows got wind of Anstey's affair with the regional managers wife Virginia Lattimore. Richard was given his marching orders by Meadows. Joe Sugden took over as temporary manager of Home Farm. 1982-1988 In March 1982 a new manager for Home Farm was appointed. The then secretary Pat Sugden introduced this new man to Joe Sugden. This man was Alan Turner, a man who had worked in the farm management business for some time. He and Joe Sugden got off to a good start and Turner seemed quite humble to begin with but in May 1982 he blamed Joe Sugden for an error over a crop spray on NY land which caused some cattle at Emmerdale Farm to stampede. Alan later sacked Jackie Merrick for setting fire to the Merrick's caravan. He started becoming very unpleasent by the end of 1982, treating the workers like dirt and thinking he was the most powerful man in Beckindale. In 1983 he stooped lower by victimising his staff and giving cowman Daniel Hawkins jobs doing heavy manual work, claiming Daniel was a General Labourer and that he was within his rights to ask anyone to do any job on Home Farm. Shop steward John Tuplin wanted to get the union involved. At the same time Rev Hinton's daughter Barbara Peters was employed as the secretary to Alan Turner, and he soon made her quite uncomfortable by standing over her as she worked, trying to win her over. Turner even blackmailed Tupin to go along with redundances announced by head office. 1988-2005 NY Estates decided to pull out of Beckindale and Home Farm in January 1988. Home Farm went on the market. It was in March 1988 that NY Estates finally cut all ties with Home Farm. Alan Turner and Joe Sugden went into partnership to buy the property. But they struggled to make ends meet. Turner was quite complacent at first. He lost a valuable client, Sir Charles Douglas, due to being caught drink driving and speeding while driving him along to a dinner. This put Sir Charles off and he returned to London the next day, cancelling his tour of the estate. Joe was livid at Turner. Turner and Joe even had a woodland on the land felled to pay for the mortgage. This angered Jack Sugden, but Joe and Turner said they were having trees chopped down that were ready to go. In August 1988 crooked businessman Denis Rigg took an interest in the property. Denis conned Alan and Joe into selling their shares at a low price. Denis planned to demolish half of the village to make way for a quarry. He made moves on Emmerdale Farm. While arguing with Joe about an offer to sell Emmerdale Farm at a low price, Denis aggrivated a bull and was crushed to death by it. In November 1989, Frank Tate and his younger wife Kim Tate and Frank's children Chris Tate and Zoe Tate moved in after Frank bought the property for £1000'000. Long term worker Jock MacDonald stole from Home Farm and also recieved a horsewhipping from Zoe Tate after her was cruel to a horse. Frank sacked Jock MacDonald for blackmailing him after seeing him kissing another woman. Jock torched one of the stables and was arrested. 2005-2008 In 2005 Tom King brought home farm, and was just about to move in before it was blown up. He and his family lived there, this was the house where Tom King was pushed out of the window. In late 2008 The Kings lost homefarm. 2010- In January 2010 Natasha Wylde shot dead her cheating husband Mark and buried him in the woods. In early 2010 businessman Declan Macey arrived in Emmerdale and became a business associate of Natasha Wylde at Home Farm. He then bought a share in Home Farm and even asked Alan Turner for advice on how to run the place as Turner ran it years before. Natasha Wylde and her son Nathan stitched up Mark's son by Faye, Ryan Lamb for the murder of Mark and Ryan was charged but eventually set free and Natasha was sent to prison. Declan knew Nathan also tried to frame Ryan so he blackmailed Nathan into giving him Home Farm and became the owner in November 2010. He told Nathan to give his share of the money to a trust fund for brother Will. In 2012 Declan Macey tied up some of his investments in a festival to be held there and it would net him £250'000. In 2013 Declan lost everything due to financial worries and in September 2014, Home Farm was reposessed. 2014- In October 2014, former village resident Lawrence White bought the property after it was reposessed from Declan Macey. Lawrence was a friend of Edna Birch, and had a gay affair with her husband back in 1963, in which he went to prison for, as homosexuality was illegal until 1967. Lawrence talked to his friends in the village of when the Verney family used to own the property when he was a young boy. Lawrence's daughter Chrissie White and grandson Lachlan White and Chrissie's fiance Robert Sugden moved in with Lawrence. Robert being the nephew of former manager and short time owner Joe Sugden. Robert and Chrissie later split. Lawrence had a habit of paying off victims of the villainous ways of his grandson Lachlan. Ronnie Hale was yet another male lover of Lawrence, and this confirmed that Lawrence was still interested in men even after Harold and later marrying a woman. Memorable info * In December 1989, the phone number for Home Farm was 623099 (episode 1413). * According to Marlon Dingle, Home Farm is located Emmerdale village "half a mile up Connelton Lane" (episode 4958). * Described by Chrissie White as "the big house on the hill" (episode 7007). Buildings on the Home Farm Estate Current Buildings *Home Farm *Stables Former Buildings *Kim's Stables, Home Farm - Destroyed in the plane crash of 1993. *Fish Farm, Home Farm - Closed c1992. Known residents over the years *1588-1910 Members of the Verney Family *1910-1975 George Verney *1966-1973 Laura Verney *1975-1978 Various tutors and teacher trainees *1978 Gerald Verney *1978 Trevor Thatcher and Paula Thatcher *1978-1980 Maurice Westrop *1979-1980 Judy Westrop *1980-1981 Richard Anstey *1981-1982 Joe Sugden *1982-1989 Alan Turner *1985 Terence Turner *1988 Caroline Bates and Nick Bates *1989-1997 Frank Tate *1989-1999 Kim Marchant (previously Tate) *1989-2003 Chris Tate *1989-2005 Zoe Tate *2005 Max King *2005-2006 Tom King *2005-2006 Rosemary King *2005-2008 Jimmy King *2005-2008 Carl King *2009-2010 Mark Wylde *2009-2010 Natasha Wylde *2009-2010 Maisie Wylde *2009-2010 Nathan Wylde *2009-2010 Will Wylde *2010-present Declan Macey *2010-2011 Dermot Macey *2010-2011 Ella Hart *2010-2011 Mia Macey *2012-2013 Katie Addyman *2012-2014 Megan Macey *2012-2014 Robbie Lawson *2014-2014 Charity Macey *2014-2014 Noah Macey *2014-2015 Robert Sugden *2014-present Lawrence White *2014-present Chrissie White *2015-present Bernice White *2015-present Gabby Thomas Known employees over the years Workers *c1920-c1960 Sam Pearson - Farm Labourer, Farm Manager *c1926 Miss Armstrong - (Seth's Mother) Servant *c1940s-1991 Seth Armstrong - Farm Labourer, Gamekeeper *c1950-1983-?? Daniel Hawkins - (Cowman) *??-1973-?? Yates - Butler *1980-1982 Jackie Merrick - Labourer, Gamekeepers Assistant, Gamekeeper *1980-1984 John Tuplin - Labourer, Shop Steward *1981-1990 Jock MacDonald - Labourer, Shop Steward *1982 Teddy Hooson - Labourer *1984-1989 Caroline Bates - Secretary *1987 Tony Marchant - Male Secretary *1996-present Sam Dingle - Gamekeeper *2012-2013 Steve Harland - Horse Man Managers *1978 Trevor Thatcher *1979-1980 Maurice Westrop *1980-1981 Richard Anstey *1981-1982 Joe Sugden *1982-1988 Alan Turner (Regional Manager, Estate Manager, then owner) *1986-1988 Joe Sugden (Regional Manager then owner) In 1989 Frank Tate bought Home Farm and it has been privately owned ever since and the owners run the farm. Gallery emmie home farm office.png|The main office emmie home farm side 2005.png|The side of Home Farm in 2005 emie home farm 2007.png|Home Farm in 2007 emmie hf kitchen.png|The kitchen emmie home farm doorway.png|The front entrance hallway. emmie back of home farm.png|The back of Home Farm. emmie home farm hallways.png|Dining area inbetween lounge and kitchen. emmie home farm lounge.png|The lounge. Home Farm-2007-06-05.JPG|Aerial shot of Home Farm. June 2007. N.B.Can you spot Rosemary King walking towards the house? Home Farm-pan 01-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 1 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 02-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 2 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 03-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 3 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 04-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 4 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 05-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 5 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 06-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 6 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 07-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 7 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 08-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 8 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 09-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 9 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 10-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 10 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-pan 11-1994-06-07.JPG|Pan of Home Farm. Part 11 of 11. June 1994. Home Farm-rear-1996-08-08.JPG|The side/rear of Home Farm. August 1996. Home Farm-2015-01-13.JPG|Home Farm. January 2015. N.B. Can you spot Aaron Livesy? Matt and Frank-Home Farm ground-1989-11-28.JPG|Matt Silbeck and Frank Tate in wooded grounds of Home Farm, near the house. November 1989. Matt and Frank-Home Farm ground-pond-1989-11-28.JPG|Pond and outbuilding on Home Farm grounds. November 1989. N.B. Can you spot Matt Silbeck and Frank Tate? emmie home farm 1991.png|Home Farm in 1991. Emmie home farm siege.png|Turner's old office in 1994. emmie jock throws stone.png|Jock throws a stone through a window in February 1988. Category:Buildings in Emmerdale. Category:Places in Emmerdale Village. Category:Houses in Emmerdale Village Category:Home Farm Estate